Tyranids

Warhammer 40K: Tyranid Tervigon Conversion

April 26, 2013 by holojacob 6 Comments

Presenting my Warhammer 40K Tyranid Tervigon conversion, with vomited termagants.

tyranid tervigon conversion 1 — Blaargh!

tyranid tervigon conversion 5 — Another poor space marine bleeding out.

tyranid tervigon conversion 4 — More termagants!

I used the trygon kit to build this tervigon. For the “birthing” part of its rules, I decided to show it in a rather unconventional way. My tervigon vomits termagants! I used the Mawloc jaw as a base along with green stuff and half a termagant. I also expanded the throat with green stuff, giving the model a bulge the rest of the termagant could exist in. A glowing, gooey pile with new termagants reinforces this odd premise.
And, of course, I had to throw in a dying space marine. Just because.
The local ultramarines player really didn’t care for my tyranid models … not sure why …
Check out the complete list of Warhammer 40K articles here.

Warhammer 40K: Tyranid Mawloc Conversion

April 25, 2013 by holojacob 3 Comments

Presenting my Warhammer 40K Tyranid Mawloc conversion.

tyranid mawloc conversion 1 — Mawloc smash!

tyranid mawloc conversion 2 — Terror from beneath!

tyranid mawloc conversion 3 — The mawloc enjoys long walks through subterranean passages and playing with its food.

The mawloc is based on the trygon kit, but I heavily modified the head. I used the mawloc mouths and tongues from three trygon kits along with green stuff to form the head. The space marine was easily add by cutting the ends of the tongues, gluing the space marine body in place, and gluing the tips to the space marine.
I wanted the mawloc to look like it had just crashed out of the ground, and so the other space marines are positioned as if they were just flung from the mawloc with impressive force, one of them in two directions at once. After completing conversions to the body, I had green stuff left over.
I couldn’t let it go to waste, so I added a big ribbon of blood between the severed halves of a space marine … because, you know, the model wasn’t far enough over-the-top yet.
Check out the complete list of Warhammer 40K articles here.

Warhammer 40K: Tyranid Hive Tyrant Conversions

April 24, 2013 by holojacob Leave a Comment

Presenting my Warhammer 40K Tyranid Hive Tyrant conversions.

tyranid hive tyrant conversion 1 — “Ready or not, here we come!”

tyranid hive tyrant conversion 2 — Making soldiers out of leftovers. It’s the Tyranid way!

With only a few minor modifications, I used a carnifex kit to make this hive tyrant. The most significant change is to the area where the legs and torso meet, where enough material had to be shaved off in order to get the tyrant to stand up straighter. He’s a general! No slouching!
The tyrant guard were easy enough to throw together with tyranid warrior parts and spare carapaces from the carnifex kits. The lash whips are based on ammunition feeds for the larger bioweapons with green stuff and extra spikes on the ends.

tyranid hive tyrant conversion 5 — Winged hive tyrant swoops in!

tyranid hive tyrant conversion 6 — Maybe I took that whole swooping thing a little too far on this one …

This winged hive tyrant is based on a trygon kit. I took one section of the tail out and joined the gap with green stuff to help differentiate it from the trygon in my army. I also left off the side pincers on the head. The wings are from the chaos demon prince kit.

tyranid hive tyrant conversion 7 — Terminators and dreadnoughts are essential parts of a balanced diet, and help young tyrants develop nice, slimy coats.

Even though the model is plastic, it’s positioning is so extreme that the base required a lot of weighting. Those are old school metal terminators.

tyranid hive tyrant conversion 4 — Winged hive tyrant #2!

The second winged hive tyrant has a less extreme pose. Again, I used a trygon kit, shortened the tail, and used demon prince wings. I closed the jaw and added green stuff to fill the gaps, to help give it a different look from the first winged hive tyrant.
Check out the complete list of Warhammer 40K articles here.

Warhammer 40K: Tyranid Broodlord Conversion

April 23, 2013 by holojacob 2 Comments

Presenting my Warhammer 40K Tyranid Broodlord conversion, with freshly sliced space marine.

tyranid broodlord conversion 2 — Here he comes!

tyranid broodlord conversion 6 — The space marine is just starting to slide apart …

This conversion used genestealer and tyranid warrior parts. Only the head and the feet are from the genestealer kit. One genestealer foot came with an extension for slotting into the base. I took that extension and merged it with the rubble to support the broodlord. The other foot and one knee provide additional support against the rubble. Even with the low weight of the plastic parts, the base had to be weighted. I used leftover metal bits underneath the base.
The marine was assembled whole, then sawed apart. I used green stuff to give him an acidic, melting look. I tried to make it look like the broodlord had zipped by, leaving the space marine to slowly slide apart in a cool, anime style.
As with all of my tyranids, the broodlord has no eyes since I am a big fan of the movies Alien and Aliens. In this case, the eyes were covered with a very small amount of green stuff.
The broodlord was my second tyranid model, and it remains one of my favorites. I love that only a little bit of his tail is actually over the base!
Check out the complete list of Warhammer 40K articles here.

Warhammer 40K: Tyranid Zoanthrope Conversion

April 22, 2013 by holojacob Leave a Comment

Presenting my Warhammer 40K Tyranid Zoanthrope, with psychically exploding space marine.

tyranid zoanthrope with exploding space marine 1 — BOOM!

tyranid zoanthrope with exploding space marine 2 — BOOSH!

tyranid zoanthrope with exploding space marine 5 — POP! Like a big, juicy zit.

tyranid zoanthrope with exploding space marine 4 — “I’m a floating brain for a reason, you know …”

The exploding space marine was made using standard space marine bits, metal wire, and green stuff. I used the wire to create a sub-structure and then built the green stuff on top of it in layers until I reached sufficient levels of ridiculousness. I then added the space marine parts to the exploding “frame.”
Due to the low weight of the exploding space marine and the high weight of the metal Zoanthrope, it’s easy to get a very dynamic pose. I used a piece of gothic terrain to extend the space marine far beyond the base, which makes it even more ridiculous.
Check out the complete list of Warhammer 40K articles here.

Warhammer 40K: Tyranid Army

April 20, 2013 by holojacob 11 Comments

Presenting my Warhammer 40K Tyranid army.

tyranid hordes 1 — Even more of the Horde.

tyranids broodlord conversion — Broodlord conversion, leaping forward.

tyranid zoanthrope 2 — Zoanthrope awesomeness blew this space marine’s mind.

tyranid zoanthrope 1 — Zoanthrope posse.

tyranid winged hive tyrant conversion — Winged hive tyrant conversion. Kind of a crazy pose.

tyranid warrior — Tyranid warrior with his new friend.

tyranid trygon — Stock trygon model. Nothing fancy.

tyranid tervigon conversion — Tervigon conversion, vomiting some more termagants.

tyranid mawloc conversion — Mawloc conversion playing with its food.

tyranid lictor — Lictor sneaking up on one unlucky space marine.

While I’m not the best painter or converter or player … I do have a lot of fun with the hobby. And for me, that’s the whole point.
I currently favor Warmachine over Warhammer 40K for my gaming needs, but there’s no denying that Games Workshop produces fantastic models. The heavy use of plastic in their product lines allows for all sorts of conversion flexibility, which I absolutely love.
I hope you enjoyed this brief look at my Tyranids army.
Check out the complete list of Warhammer 40K articles here.